You can welcome me to Bluelight if you want, but I'd just like to ask a question that's been asked a lot - could it mess with my mental function if I do it responsibly - as in, maintain set and setting, have a responsible trip sitter, etc? I have used and use cannabis, not on a daily basis, but from time to time. I'm just wondering - am I ready to take on this experience? Or should I wait a bit more?

could it mess with my mental function if I do it responsibly - as in, maintain set and setting, have a responsible trip sitter, etc? I have used and use cannabis, not on a daily basis, but from time to time.

Yes. It's a bit of a lottery to be honest; but I'd say it mainly comes down to setting, dose, mental health, genetics, lifestyle and personality. Mental health, lifestyle and personality are something that haven't really solidified at 14. The last thing you want is to be all deep and serious or suddenly suffering from existential problems and/or anxiety/depression/psychosis etc at that age.

I seem to remember reading some responses to a similar question and one of the replies was saying that at that age you should probably be focussing on getting girls and becoming a confident young stable adult. I'd tend to agree. You don't want to be questioning who you are before you even know.

Seriously, I'm very laid back with regard to this kind of stuff and generally a proponent of MDMA and psychedelics; but take my advice and don't cane it too hard. Focus on becoming a naturally stable and healthy person. Work out. Meditate. Learn to eat well and nourish yourself. Right your posture, learn to make a good impression on people, chase girls, build good friendships, lose your virginity.

Do those things now and when you come to take psychedelics there's going to be a massive weight off your shoulders and a higher likelihood of having positive experiences. Basically, become the best version of yourself before your identity is formed. This is what psychedelics showed me, and it's a lot harder to change things once you reach your twenties and your personality becomes more of a rigid structure.

Part of me certainly massively regrets smoking myself into a world of brain fog and uncertainty at 16.

I don't think using shrooms at that young age can be responsible at all. Especially shrooms, there is a lot of other psychedelics that are "lighter". Not that you should be using any of them when your brain is shaping. I would even say that regural weed use at age is not a great idea. You have a lot ahead of you, there will be time do try and explore the drug world.
I didn't try weed until 23 and first time I did psychedelics I was 25, I wouldn't change that. But I know someone who did LSD at 16 and now being over 50 they still didn't try it again. It went that bad.

I would say you are moving a bit fast and have all the time in the world to both "chase tail" and trip your face off.

I don't see any harm coming from it if you are an intelligent, strong-willed, individual. I don't know anything about your level of maturity or intelligence. If you feel you are ready I would start by dipping my toe in with maybe 1 - 1.5 grams. Go from there.

Marijuana can be just as "destructive" a substance as many classic Psych's (and females). If you are comfortable with the space you are in (socially, family-wise, educationally, etc.) I think you could safely do it.

I would not suggest it. I agree with waiting. If only because you will have more tools and be more capable (hopefully) of integrating the experience into your life.

Sorry, when I was 14, all I could think about was girls. I'm not saying go forth and have sex, just that there are still a lot of natural highs (girls, video games, exciting sports like skiing or mountain biking) he probably hasn't experienced, which are natural for everyone to experience at some point, and should really take priority over drug use at that age. Ideally, you'd wait until after grade school because parental oversight and drugs are the two things that clash the hardest in in a young man's life.

Didn't mean to attack the advice. There is certainly nothing wrong with talking with, and hanging around girls at his age.

Also, I do suggest maybe saving the money you would be spending on mushrooms and other drugs to go do adventurous things (skiing, hiking, camping, biking, buying your first car, are all amazing experiences).

I spent all of my money on drugs between the ages of 15-19 and greatly regret it.

I agree with the parental oversight. There was nothing worse than tripping in the neighborhood park, coming down, and running into my dad at the store or pizza shop. He always knew or seemed to know something was off and that made things slightly uncomfortable.

Well, you can go down a certain road with psychedelics that leads to some heavy shit....Sure you can have some fun...enjoy some 'purty lights and good feels. But be a kid while you still can though...'Ain't no rush...and read this letter. Just something to think about.

It's interesting, but if you want a TL;DR-You might be into getting into more than you think.
C.G. Jung Letter to Victor White

. . . Is the LSD-drug mescalin? It has indeed very curious effects – vide Aldous Huxley! – of which I know far too little. I don't know either what its psychotherapeutic value with neurotic or psychotic patients is. I only know there is no point in wishing to know more of the collective unconscious than one gets through dreams and intuition. The more you know of it, the greater and heavier becomes your moral burden, because the unconscious contents transform themselves into your individual tasks and duties as soon as they become conscious. Do you want to increase loneliness and misunderstanding? Do you want to find more and more complications and increasing responsibilities? You get enough of it. If I once could say that I had done everything I know I had to do, then perhaps I should realize a legitimate need to take mescalin. But if I should take it now, I would not be sure at all that I had not taken it out of idle curiosity. I should hate the thought that I had touched on the sphere where the paint is made that colours the world, where the light is created that makes shine the splendour of the dawn, the lines and shapes of all form, the sound that fills the orbit, the thought that illuminates the darkness of the void. There are some impoverished creatures, perhaps, for whom mescalin would be a heavensent gift without a counterpoison, but I am profoundly mistrustful of the "pure gifts of the Gods." You pay very dearly for them. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. ["(Men of Troy, beware the horse!) Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts" – Virgil, Aeneid, I, 48.]

This is not the point at all, to know of or about the unconscious, nor does the story end here; on the contrary, it is how and where you begin the real quest. If you are too unconscious it is a great relief to know a bit of the collective unconscious. But it soon becomes dangerous to know more, because one does not learn at the same time how to balance it through a conscious equivalent. That is the mistake Aldous Huxley makes: he does not know that he is in the role of the "Zauberlehrling," [sorcerer's apprentice] who learned from his master how to call the ghosts but did not know how to get rid of them again:

Die ich rief, die Geister,Werd ich nun nicht los!

[Those that I called, the spirits, I cannot now send away!]

It is really the mistake of our age. We think it is enough to discover new things, but we don't realize that knowing more demands a corresponding development of morality. Radioactive clouds over Japan, Calcutta, and Saskatchawan point to progressive poisoning of the universal atmosphere.

I should indeed be obliged to you if you could let me see the material they get with LSD. It is quite awful that the alienists have caught hold of a new poison to play with, without the faintest knowledge or feeling of responsibility. It is just as if a surgeon had never learned further than to cut open his patient's belly and leave things there. When one gets to know unconscious contents one should know how to deal with them. I can only hope that the doctors will feed themselves thoroughly with mescalin, the alkaloid of divine grace, so that they learn for themselves its marvelous effect. You have not finished with the conscious side yet. Why should you expect more from the unconscious? For 35 years I have known enough of the collective unconscious and my whole effort is concentrated upon preparing the ways and means to deal with it. (page 172)

Psychedelics do a good job of bringing forward the notion that life is either one big sick joke, or one big fun ride - dependent on how you look at it. It is a very heavy realisation, and it's something that a 14 year old could probably do without. Perspective is something that is almost unknown to people that age.

These experiences stick with people for the rest of their lives. They are simply unforgettable. Please live your teenage years normally and soberly, they are incredibly important - then decide what you want to do when you are older and have found your feet.

Maybe not, but you should definitely wait, let's not find out eh? The majority of psychedelic casualties I've seen were very young when they started out. What I'm talking about are the kind of people who kind of seem like they lost their way in life.

Wait till you're 18 or so, it will be safer, and I believe you'll be able to get more out of them at that point as well.

Thanks for the extensive advice and information, everyone, I've understood that I'm definitely not ready for such a realisation and burden that carries on for the rest of my life. I'd much rather live for now without such a hard truth.

As other posters said: there are other things to explore at 14 well until 18-20 or older before you become adolescent and adult and are ready for that kind of thing. Sure it must sound interesting but I'm not sure if you realize what you are signing up for. It's not just being some spectator to some nice visuals as if you were watching a movie... it can really change things which if it happens is not something you want to happen too young at all. It can be difficult enough to cope with if you are older and have laid down the ground work.

Oh I see now that you responded ^ that seems like a wise decision...

Realizing that there is no point in being impatient and running through your 'bucket list' at breakneck speed is part of being mature. As I tried various drugs one by one I mostly realized that it is much much nicer to spread it out than to go for the jackpot really quickly like some people do. I guess sex isn't really that different in some sense, although that isn't always so "voluntary" in terms of timing.
I get it though and at times I made the same mistake: to let curiosity get the better of me. Often enough in the big picture it was disappointing to release my excitement like that... it felt like I thought I knew what I wanted, but it turned out I did not because I was too focused on "getting" something.

It's a matter of principle and average outcome, anecdotal evidence of very well or very poorly resulted outcomes are not really interesting, so always base your conclusion on the majority and not ones that are especially impressive, that is unless you make a decision to something to achieve or avoid something "at the cost of everything".
For example some people would tolerate only a zero % chance of something happening, then it doesn't matter whether 1 or 100 people report that possibility.